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AT&T brings back unlimited data plans, but there are some major catches …

Noblex

If you’re feeling jealous of any friends grandfathered into an existing AT&T unlimited data plan (especially since ‘unlimited’ was redefined from ‘5GB before throttling kicks in’ to ’22GB before throttling if congested’), the company has good news: it is  launching a brand new version of unlimited data tomorrow.

Pricing starts at $100/month for a single line, plus $40 for each individual line. Unfortunately, there’s bad news too. As The Verge notes, there are some pretty big catches – the biggest of which is that you need to be a DirecTV or U-Verse subscriber to even  be eligible, which of course adds to the cost if you don’t already have a subscription …

It’s clear where the company is going here: it’s leveraging its new DirecTV acquisition and existing U-verse TV services to promote video streaming on the go. While the plan itself doesn’t bundle in specific home TV packages, it’s designed to work hand-in-hand with DirecTV and U-verse’s out-of-home streaming apps. It just so happens that watching lots of video quickly burns up your data allowance — and AT&T’s more than happy to offer an unlimited plan to fix that problem.

The plan is also limited to smartphones. If you want to use it on your iPad, you’ll need to fork out a further $40/month to add a tablet so this plan can quickly get pricey.

If you want the plan but don’t currently have a qualifying TV subscription, the cheapest deal is a DirecTV package at $19.99/month. Alternatively, if you’re racking up the data mostly from streaming video, you may want to check out T-Mobile’s Binge On program, which doesn’t count data usage from a growing number of streaming video services.

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Comments

  1. applenthusiast - 8 years ago

    I’m guessing there’s no way this in any way violates net neutrality and/or anti-competitive laws eh?

    • jalind52 - 8 years ago

      If they’re throttling a subscriber who has gone over a total data or bandwidth usage threshold, and it’s not based on source or content, they’re not violating any laws. It’s done to protect their network for all their subscribers as it has finite capacity. Only takes a small number of extremely high bandwidth demand subscribers to gridlock a network. I’ve seen and experienced network gridlock and it’s ugly, very ugly, with zero data throughput. Nobody can get anything. Web pages cannot finish downloading. “Sessions” with Internet sites time out. Pure text email uploads and downloads fail. Much the same as rush-hour freeway gridlock with cars completely stopped for tens of miles just idling for endless minutes — nobody going anywhere unless you’re on top of an off-ramp and can exit.

  2. Andrew Messenger - 8 years ago

    I’m glad i left AT&T last year. Everything they do makes me cringe.

    • incredibilistic - 8 years ago

      I switched to T-Mobile about 2 years ago and I’m so glad I switched when I did.

      I was one of those ‘grandfathered unlimited with 5GB limited’ users so when I walked into a T-Mobile store and was told unlimited meant “unlimited” I was in. The JUMP program — being able to upgrade every 6 months without any penalties and paying only the taxes on the phone — was icing on the cake.

      Their coverage is a little spotty in certain places (ironically by the T-Mobile store closest to me) but it’s getting better and better, especially indoors.

      I am a DirecTV customer (have been for about 12 years) but once Apple can finally get all the networks onboard and launches their own streaming TV service DirecTV will go bye-bye.

      • Andrew Messenger - 8 years ago

        I, likewise, switched to T-Mobile and my experience has been mostly positive. My coverage with Band 12 has been great, speeds awesome and the Jump program in it’s many variations is excellent. I didn’t mention who I switched to in my first post because I didn’t want it to be a commercial but even with all the Binge On nonsense people are complaining about, I’m very happy with T-Mobile and don’t regret taking my 10 lines from AT&T.

    • calisurfboy - 8 years ago

      I became disgruntled quickly when Cingular became ATT. I held onto my grandfather plan tooth and nail before switching to Tmobile last year. Honestly, I do not know why I stuck around so long. My bill was cut by almost 50% for what has been improved service.

      I’m really upset with Uverse. Its the only cable choice in my area. Its ridiculous to be charged $8 rental fee for equipment which is required (but told I cannot buy outright) to access overpriced internet service that is slower than molasses. Half the features from ATT uverse are not available due to lack of wiring yet somehow Gigabyte is which will lock me in a 3 year contract that also invades my privacy.

      For veterans, I am trying out Defense Mobile next month for a family member. Ill let everyone know how that goes. With internet, I’m stuck with no options other than to move.

  3. 89p13 - 8 years ago

    AT&T should change their name to B&S — Bait and Switch!

    I trust AT&T less than I trust politicians – That’s saying a NOT at all. YMMV

  4. Michael Fishweicher - 8 years ago

    Thanks but no thanks. I still have my Unlimited Data Plan on my iPad for $29.99 a month; never throttled. Those SIM cards are going for $2,500 on eBay.

    • I also have 2 of these “original” unlimited data plans for my iPads and will keep them as long as I can. To my knowledge, one of the few truly unlimited, never throttled, mobile data plans still around (for people that hung onto them at least).

  5. bellevueboy - 8 years ago

    In July of 2005 Susan Benette did voice over recordings for 4 hours each day which would be revealed in 2011 as Siri. The iPhone was announced in Jan 2007 and went on sale in June. Who knows what’s planned for this year or being worked on this year. On the question about earphones I haven’t even opened apples EarPods for the last few models, I moved to Bluetooth long time ago.

  6. Junito O. (@JunitoNH) - 8 years ago

    Is time for Ma Bell, I mean AT&T to get a makeover. They need a new executive, this guy is brutal.

  7. hegain (@hegain) - 8 years ago

    I was a loyal AT&T customer for 9 years with an old unlimited family plan. When T-mobile new jump plans arrived I called AT&T to see if they could get close in price. I was told yes but what I got was worse than my original plan. I didn’t want to switch but the $200/month savings was well worth it. I am very very happy with T-mobile and glad I made the switch.

  8. Munir Moon - 8 years ago

    Any idea whether you’ll be able to use hotspot functionality with this new unlimited plan? Considering jumping from my grandfathered unlimited Verizon plan to this, especially now that the increased Verizon prices are in place.

    • jaredb985 - 8 years ago

      There’s no word yet on data caps on this new “unlimited” data plan and no word on hotspot.

      I currently have the grandfathered unlimited $30 a month plan, soon to go up to $35 next month. I doubt AT&T will allow personal hotspots with this new plan. :-/

      • riko1974 - 8 years ago

        There’s no caps on data usage, stream all u want (40 + gb if u want) but no hotspot

    • djbabybuster - 8 years ago

      Since they block it on the unlimited grandfathered plans, I agree prob will as well. Easy work around is to jailbreak your phone, and get MyWi. I’v been enjoying free tethering on my AT&T unlimited plan for years now. Always jb mainly for this reason.

  9. sardonick - 8 years ago

    Apparently AT&T has taken medical mary jane a bit too far and let their marketing people loose in the lab. Cuz, they gotta be high to think this is anything but total BS.

  10. AJ (@aejaneczek) - 8 years ago

    It’s amazing really, AT&T is the company people love to hate like it’s a bodily function, This isn’t the greatest deal in the world unless you use a ton of data, but the fact that you have to have another AT&T product to have access to it isn’t that terrible, it’s understandable at least. How dare a publicly traded company that has a duty to it’s stock holders to grow it’s business attempt to entice customer to sign up for new services by leveraging it’s other services. People love to hate on AT&T so much that they just react and don’t stop and think that pretty much EVERY company does this. If this upsets you then you should be outraged when Apple says to use iCloud Photo Library on a phone it has to be an iPhone, Google and FaceBook also use existing products and services to entice people into using new services or other products.

  11. Marklewood at Serenity Lodge - 8 years ago

    I’m looking over this new plan. However, biggest problem I see, so far is that ATT UVerse caps data in home. So, any device connected to the Internet using their in home wireless gateway — iPhones, computers, iPads, or Roku, etc. — chews through the UVerse data cap. That kinda defeats the purpose, in my mind. And we are not using all our current data plan on the go as it is. So, it isn’t a very good deal for us as far as I can tell.

    • jaredb985 - 8 years ago

      What proof do you have that AT&T caps U-Verse customers? I’m a U-Verse customer and while info understand that there is “supposed to be” a 250GB “cap” AT&T provides U-Verse members with no way of monitoring their data usage. I have never gotten any type of communication from AT&T telling me my usage was approaching a specific limit.

  12. jaredb985 - 8 years ago

    Actually AT&T put a 22GB cap on the new “unlimited” plan in this promotion.

  13. drewbster - 8 years ago

    Just talked to AT&T online chat support. We have Uverse 200 and there is a 250GB data cap. $10 charge for 50GB over cap. No way to view current usage online, have to wait until you are 60% above cap. Is that an extra $20 or $30 per month? What do people recommend for an alternative?

  14. jaredb985 - 8 years ago

    When would you hit 250GB of data in a month?!

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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